1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to the field of golf clubs and more specifically, to golf clubs wherein an insert is received in the golf club head and mates with the golf club shaft and wherein the insert may be removed and replaced to provide different relative angles between the head and the shaft.
2. BACKGROUND ART
An important factor in the performance of a golfer on the course is the geometry of the clubs used by the golfer. Depending upon the golfer's swing mechanics and his or her stance and body dimensions, the angle between a golf club shaft and the ball hitting head to which it is attached can have a significant degree of variation and such variation can drastically affect the accuracy of ball impact and thus significantly impact a golfer's score. Perhaps no golf club has more impact on overall score than the putter. In a typical round of golf of eighteen holes, about half the score is attributable to putting strokes. Thus it would not be unusual for a golfer who scores an 80 on a par 72 course to have 40 or more putting strokes as part of the total. Thus, the selection of the most appropriate angle between shaft and head is probably most important in the putter. Yet the vast majority of conventional golf club putters do not provide any easy way of adjusting the angle between shaft and head without bending the hosel or neck of the putter. Once a golfer purchases a conventional putter, he or she cannot alter the lie angle to optimize putting performance. Even though some golf club manufacturers provide some form of customizing to each golfer, once the clubs are in the golfer's bag, there can be no further changes.
It would be highly advantageous if there were a putter designed to permit changes to be made to its lie angle as the golfer uses it and determines which angle is best for his or her particular putting technique. In this manner, a golfer could readily alter the angle between head and shaft between rounds until he or she discovered which such angle produced the most accurate putting stroke. Moreover, as the golfer changes his or her putting technique due to minor aches and pains, more serious medical conditions, or just simply by virtue of choice, the putter can be then modified to produce a more suitable lie angle for the new putting technique. Unfortunately, the Applicants know of no existing golf club putter which provides for easy and convenient modification of lie angle by simple mechanical adjustment at any time the golfer wishes to alter his or her putting stroke or simply to experiment for achieving greater accuracy in the most significant part of the game.